Hystricurus politus was named by Ross (1951) [Paratypes: YPM 17956, 17954, 17958, 17959]. Its type specimen is YPM 17955, a cephalon/head (cranidium), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Locality 7, Franklin Basin, Zone "B", which is in a Gasconadian shallow subtidal horizon in the Garden City Formation of Idaho. It is the type species of Politicurus.

It was recombined as Politicurus politus by Adrain et al. (2003).